Mongolia

The name used to designate an immense uneven plateau, part of the Chinese Empire, extending, roughly speaking, from the Tarbagatal to the great K'ingan chains.

Geography

Mongolia is bounded on the north by the Siberian provinces of Tomac, Irkutsk, Yeniseisk, and Transbaikalia, as defined by the Russo-Chinese treaties of 1689 and 1727; on the east, by Manchuria, the frontier crossing the Nonni River; on the south, the frontier, after following the Shara Muran, which separates it from the Chinese provinces of Chi-li, Shan-si, Shen-si, and crossing the bend of the Hwang-ho (Ordor Country), Kan-su, includes Alashan, following part of the Great Wall; on the southwest and west it bounded by the New Dominion (Sin Kiang) and the Siberian province of Semipalatinsk to Mount Kaldar (Altaï). The population of Mongolia is estimated variously at 2,600,000 (Statesman's Year Book, 1910), 2,580,000 or nearly 2 to the square mile, and 5,000,000. Its area of 1,357,953 square miles may be divided into three regions: the central region, known as the Mongolian Sha-mo, in contradistinction to the great Sha-mo. or desert of Gobi; the northwest region, a plateau connected with the Great Altaï, including Kobdo and Urga, and bounded on the S. E. by the Ektagh Altaï, (or Mongolian, or southern Altaï); the southwestern region of the great K'ingan, a long chain of mountains stretching from the Shara Muren to the Argún River, separating the plateau of Gobi from the Manchurian plains.

The climate is extremely dry, and varies abruptly with the season of the year and even the hour of the day. An idea of the severity of a Mongolian winter may be gathered from the following description of conditions in the month of October: "The cold by this time was almost Arctic. All our provisions were frozen through and through; potatoes were like lumps of iron; meat had to be broken rather than cut; and some eggs which we had brought with us were frozen so hard that, in spite of a preliminary thawing, the yolks were still solid lumps of ice when the whites were perfectly fried. Tea left in the bottom of a cup in the tent was frozen solid in a very few minutes. The ink froze on one's pen as one wrote, and one had to blow on it after writing every two or three words, and each page had to be thawed over the lamp before it could be blotted. In the morning we woke up with our moustaches fringed with lumps of ice and a coating of ice along the fringe of the bed-clothes where the breath had fallen" (Kidston, "China", no. 3, 1904, 21).

The Kerulon, or Kerélon, River, "though an inconsiderable river, is the longest of the vast arid east Mongol upland, and the permanence of the pastures along its banks has always attracted a large share of the nomad population; many of the Tsentsen princes keep their headquarters on or close to the Kerulon" (Campbell, 24). This river rises on the southern slopes of the Kental Mountains, near Mount Burkhan Kalduna and enters the Dalai Nor, five or six miles southwest of the Altan Emûl (Golden Saddle) a pair of brown hills, famous in Mongol legend, between which the river flows. The Dalaï, or Kulun Nor, is a lake in the Manchurian region, sixteen miles from north-east to south-west. and about ten miles from east to west, near the Transbakalian frontier of Russia; it was visited in 1689 by Father Gerbillion. This lake receives on the north the waters of the Dalaï Gal, which, united to the Khailar River, form the Argún River, and this in turn joins the Shilka. The Argúb and Shilka being united, take the name of Amúr, or He-lung-kiang, the great river which runs into the Okhotsk Sea. The Ursan Gol carries the overflow of the Buyr, or Bur, Nor, to the Kulun Nor; the Khalka Gol, which rises in Lake Galba, on the western slope of the great K'ingan range, flows into the Buyr Nor; near its south bank, stands the Ikhe Boshan Sume (Monastery of the Large Buddha). The Selenga River which rose into Lake Baikal, rises in the Ulan Taïga and Khan Taïga Mountains; its main tributaries are, on the left, the Eke Gol flowing from the Kosso Gol in the middle of which is the Buddhist sacred island of Dahlai Kui; on the right to Orkhun, which springs from the Khangai chain, receiving on the left the waters of the Tamir and on the right those of the Tola.

The people

Organization

With regard to the word Mongol, Mr. E. H. Parker (Asiatic Quart. Rev., July, 1910) writes: "It is usually believed that the Jenghiz Khan gave the name Mung-Ku (the present Chinese name for 'Mongol') to his people, and the word is said to mean "silver", just as the Liao (Kitan) dynasty is said to mean 'iron' and the Kin (Niuchen) dynasty means 'gold' . . . . In the same way, I suspect the various forms, Mungu or Mungut, which have an unbroken descent from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1200 (before Jenghiz rose to power), must refer to some ancient stream or typographical peculiarity in the Onon region, near where Jenghiz arose." In the History of the Ming Dynasty (Ming Shi) the Mongols are styled tata (Tatars) and also Men-gu. The Mongol tribes are divided unto Nui Mung-ku (Inner Mongols) and Wai Mung-ku (Outer Mongols). The Nui Mung-ku, including forty-nine banners (ho shun) arose out of the organization formed by the descendants of Jenghiz Khan, which has continued to the present time. Under the Yuan dynasty they were organized in six divisions (Djirgughan Tuman, or "Six Ten Thousands"), forming two wings, the right occupying the western portion of the Mongolian territory, the left the eastern portion. The Inner Mongols are now divided into six meng (Chinese) or chogolgán (Mongol), including twenty-four pu (Chinese) or aimak (Mongol) as follows: I. Cherim Meng, or League, comprising the following pu, or tribes: (1) Khorch'in, 6 banners; (2) Djalaid, 1 banner; (3) Turbet, 1 banner; (4) Ghorlos, 2 banners. II. Chosoy'u League: (5) Kharach'in, 3 banners; (6) T'umed, 2 banners. III. Chao Uda League: (7) Ao-Khan, 1 banner; (8) Naiman, 1 banner; (9) Barin, 2 banners; (10) Djarud, 2 banners; (11) Aru'Khorch'in, 2 banners; (12) Ongniod, 1 banner; (13) Keshkhteng, 1 banner; (14) Khalka of the Left, 1 banner. IV. Silinghol League: (15) Uchumuch'in, 2 banners; (16) Kaochid, 2 banners; (17) Sunid, 2 banners; (18) Abaga, 2 banners; (19) Abaganur, 2 banners. V. Ukan Ch'ap League: (20) Sze Tze Pu Lo, or Durban Keuked, 1 banner; (21) Mou Mingan, 1 banner; (22) Urad, 3 banners; (23) Khalka of the Right, 1 banner. VI. Ikh Chao League: (24) Ordos, 7 banners. W. F. Mayers who gives these particulars (Chinese Government) adds that with the tribes of the Ordos there are amalgamated certain fragments of the T'umed tribe, occupying the region adjacent to Kwei Hwa Ch'êng, to the north-east of the Great Bend of the Yellow River.

Inner Mongolia is broadly speaking "what is to the south of the Great Desert": it extends over the plateau beyond the K'ingan Mountains into the Upper Valley of the Manchurian rivers, the Liao and the Sungari; it includes part of Outer Chi-li. With the exception of the Ch'ahar and the T'umed, placed under the government of Manchu generals, each Mongolian banner is ruled by an hereditary chieftain or noble (Dzassak or Jassak). These nobles are classed in six ranks from ts'in wang, "prince of the first order, to taichi, or daidji, "noble". They are controlled by the Li fan Yuan. Campbell writes (op. cit. supra) "The descent and honours of every noble are registered in the Li Fan Yuan, in Peking, and the bearers of hereditary titles indicate their successors, who must be confirmed in their succession by decree of the Chinese Emperor. On succeeding to a title, a Jassak is summoned to Peking for audience. All the nobility of the Inner Mongol tribes pay their visits to the Chinese court at New Year by roster, a cycle of three years completing the roster, and those who do not go to court are required to attend at the local Jassak's residence on New Year's Day in full court dress and perform the proper obeisances in the direction of Peking. A jassak presents a sheep and a bottle of milk spirit to the emperor on these occasions and a taichi gives a 'scalded sheep'. Such as visit Peking are banqueted and receive presents of silk, and they attend in the suite of the Chinese Emperor when he goes to offer the seasonable sacrifices."

The Wai Mung-ku, or Outer Mongols, comprise the Khalkhas and the Kalmuks, or Western Mongols. The country stretches "along the Siberian frontier from near Lake Kulun to the Altai, and includes the four Aimak, or Khanates, of the Khalkas, and the west Mongol territories under the jurisdiction of the Chinese military government at Ulaisut'ai, Kobdo, Tarnagatai, and Uriankhai. In the term Outer Mongolia may also be included the Mongols of Kokonor and Tsaidam, who are under the control of an imperial agent stationed at Si-ning Fu", (Cambell, op, cit.). The Khalkas constitute four great pu: (1) the T'ushsét'u Khanate, 20 banners; (2) Tsetsen Khanate, 23 banners; (3) Dzassakt'u Khanate, 18 banners; (4) Sain-noin Tribe, 22 banners. Urga (Ta-kuren) is the administrative center of the east Khalka Khanates, within the territory of the T'ushét'u Khan. Its name represents the Russian pronunciation of the Mongol word örgo (residence). According to C. W. Campbell, the full native name is Bogdo Lamain Kuhre (The God-Lama's Encampment); shorter names are Da Kuhre, or Ikhe Kure (Great Encampment) and simply Kure; the Chinese call the place K'u-lun, or K'ulien, or Ta K'u-lien. Urga includes three towns lying to the north of the Tola River: Urga proper, the Mongol quarters; the Russian consulate and settlement, a mile and a half to the east; and farther east, Mai-mai chên, the Chinese Urga, the commercial town. There is a population of 25,000, half of whom are lamas. There is a Chinese commissioner, styled K'u-lun pan shi ta ch'en (incumbent in 1910, Yen Chi) and an assistant commissioner, styled Pang pan ta ch'en (incumbent in 1910, Pêng-ch'u-k'o-ch'ê-lin). Urga is also the residence of the cheptsundampa hut'ukat'u, or patriarch of the Khalka tribes, ranking, in the Lamaist Church, next to the Dalaï and the Panshen erdeni lamas; this title was conferred in the middle of seventeenth century by the Dalaï Lama on a son of the T'ushet'u'khan, known in Mongol history as Undur Gegen. When the British troops entered Lhasa, the Dalaï lama fled to Urga, where he arrived on the 27 Nov., 1904. Uliasut'ai, in the territory of San Noin Khalkas, is the seat of a tsiang kiun, or military governor (in 1910, K'un siu), and the two ts'an tsan ta ch'en, or military assistant governors (in 1910, Ch'ê-têng so no mu and K'uei Huan). Kobdo, on the Bayantu, has, subject to Uliasut'ai, a military assistant governor (in 1910, P'u Jun), and a commissioner, or pan shi ta ch'ên (in 1910 Si Hêng). At Si-ning there is a pan shi ch'en (in 1910, Ch'ing Shu).

The Kalmuks, or Western Mongols, next in importance to the Khalkas, include six tribes: (1) Oelöt (Eleuths) Kalmuks; (2) Turbet; (3) Turgut; (4) Khoshoit; (5) Khoit; (6) Ch'oros. To these should be added the T'sing Hsi Mung-ku, Mongols of Kokonor, including 29 banners, all Kalmuk, 21 banners being Khoshoit; the Alashan Mung-ku, Mongols of Alashan, of Kalmuk descent, with Ning hia as their chief centre; the Yeo Muh, nomadic tribes, including the Ch'ahar, near the Great Wall, the Bargu tribe, controlled by Je-hol and Kalgan, the Uriangshi, Min-gad, and Djakch'in under the Governor of Uliasut'ai. The Buriat are subject to Russia, and the Dam Mongols live in Tsaidam between Kokonor and Tibet.

As a result of the recent Russo-Japanese agreement, the Chinese Imperial Grand council studied the means of preserving the integrity of Mongol territory; it was resolved that two divisions of modern troops should be sent to this country, that education should be established according to Chinese methods, and that a railway should be built across Mongolia with its terminus at Peking.

Religion

The religion of the Mongols is Buddhism under the Lamaist form, introduced from Tibet at the end of the Ming dynasty. The lamas like the cheptsundampa hut'uknt'u at Urga, have their heads clean shaven. Large monasteries exist at Je-hol and Dolan-nor (Lama-miao) and at Wu T'al shan, in the Shan-si province. The Lamaist organization in and near Peking is named Chu-King Lama; the metropolitan Chang-chia Hut'uknt'u lives at Dolan-nor  or rather at Yung Ho Kung  and controls the Mongols of Ch'ahar. Lamaism has certainly altered the warlike character of the followers of Jenghiz, who are now a peaceful population of herdsmen. "The Lamas", writes Kidsman (op. cit., 19) exercise enormous influence; every tent has its altar, every high ridge on the plain has its sacred cairn; the repetition of prayers and the telling of beads is repetitious and incessant, and almost every collection of 'yerts' has its prayer flags fluttering conveniently easy petitions with every breeze that blows. Belief in the transmigration of souls and in the utter unimportance of the mere body is so strong that the bodies of laymen are not buried at all, but simply thrown out on the plain, where the dogs make short work of them.The taking of life is regarded with horror, though sheer necessity makes an exception and provides quibbling excuses for the slaughter of sheep. On the whole journey we only saw one fire-arm, and that was evidently intended for show rather than use. It was carried by one of the escorts provided for us by Prince Ha-la-han, and from inquiries, I believe that it represented the entire armament of the Principality."

Customs, languages, etc.

The typical Mongol is short and stumpy; the head is shaven, with the exception of a tuft of hair, a souvenir of the Manchu conquest. Family ties are very loose; marriage being a civil contract the binding force of which is the mere will of the parties. Stock-breeding is the occupation of practically all Mongols. They are remarkable horsemen, and their ponies which are excellent, are branded. They have herds of camel, and yaks are to be seen in the mountainous parts of northern Mongolia. Mr. George J. Kidston (China, no. 3, 1940) observes, "both in features and in character they are less foreign to the European than the Chinese. They often have almost ruddy complexions; they laugh more heartily, have none of the endless formalities and (to us) crooked ways of thought that distinguish the Chinese, and they have even certain customs that strike one as being distinctly Western. The women, for instance, when they meet, embrace one another and kiss both cheeks, while the men shake both hands. . . . perhaps the first thing that strikes a stranger about the Mongols, after their exceeding filthiness, is their love of talking. . . . Hospitality is a universal virtue, and one may enter any 'yurt' on the plain and be sure of a welcome. . . .They are excitable, but courage is not their strong point, and disputes die out in lengthy warfare of words." They are also lazy and voracious. They live on mutton, milk, and brick tea; they have neither flour, vegetables, or eggs. "They have one very excellent preparation which the Chinese call 'milk skin'; it is made by boiling milk until the cream settles in a thick skin on the top, and it much resembles Devonshire cream. The only native strong drink is made from fermented mare's milk. We are told that it is intoxicating if partaken of in large quantities. The Mongols, however, have a decided weakness for Chinese wine and spirits, and the Chinese always speak of them as a drunken race" (op. cit., 19). The Mongol tent (gher, or yurt) is made of a trellis of wooden staves neatly fastened together with strings of hide, the whole being covered with felt, the best of which comes from Russian Turkistan.

The Mongol language belongs to the Ural-Altaic family, the Kalmuk dialect, though containing a number of Turkish words, being the purer. The Uighúr is the basis of the modern Mongol and Manchu characters; it is of Syriac origin, introduced in eastern Turkistan by the early Nestorian missionaries. There is a dialect poem in Uighúr, the "Kudatku bibk", dating from A.D. 1069, which was published in 1870 by Armenius Vambery, and in 1891 by W. Radloff.

History

When Jenghiz Khan died on 18 Aug., 1227, his dominions were divided among his four sons. Juji, the eldest son, died before his father, and was replaced by his own son Batu, who had for his share the plains of Kipchak, the lower course of the Syr-Daria, the Aral and Caspian seas, the valleys of the Don and the Vulga, and northward beyond the Ural River; Chagatai had the kingdom of Mávará-un-Nahr, or Transoxiana, and also what is now Chinese Turkestan, Ferghána, Badakshan, etc., and his capital was Amalik; Okkodai, the third son, had the Mongol country with the capital Karákorum; lastly, Tu-li had the territory between the Karákorum mountains and the sources of the Onon River. Karákorum (kara, black; kuren, a camp) was called by the Chinese Ho-lin, and was chosen for his capital by Jenghiz Khan in 1206. His full name, Ha-la Ho-lin, was taken from a river to the west. In the spring 1235, Okodai had a wall built around Ho-lin. After the death of Kúblái, Ho-lin was altered to Ho-Ning, and in 1320 the name of the province was changed to Lingpe ("mountainous north", i.e., the Ying-shan chain, separating China proper from Mongolia. Recent researches have fully confirmed the belief that the Erdeni Tso, or Erdeni Choa, monastery, founded in 1586, occupies the site of Karákorum, near the bank of the Orkhon, between this river and the Kokchin (old) Orkhon. In 1256, Mangku Khan decided to transfer the seat of government to Kaiping fu, or Shang-tu, near the present Dolon nor, north of Peking. In 1260, Kúblái transferred his capital to Ta-tu (Peking), and it was called Khan-baligh. The second Supreme Kahn was Okkodai (1229-41), replaced by his son Kuyuk (third Great Khan) (1246-48), Turakina being regent (1241-46); Ogugalmish was regent (1248-51). The title was then transferred to the Tu-li branch of Jenghiz family, and the fourth great Khan was Mangku, who was killed at the siege of Ho-chou in Sze-ch'uan (1251-57).

Kúblái, brother of Mangku, who succeeded him in 1260, was the fifth great Khan and the first real Emperor China of the Yuan Dynasty (1280). His ancestors have the following dynastic titles or miao hao: T'ai Tsu (Jenghiz), T'ai Tsung (Okkodai), Ting Tsung (Kuyuk), Hien Tsung (Mangku). Kúblái himself has the miao hao of She Tsu and the two reign-titles (nien hao) of Chung T'ung (1260) and Che Yuan (1264). The list of his successors according to their miao hao, with nien hao in parentheses, is as follows: Ch'êng Tsung, 1295 (Yuan Chêng, 1295; Ta Teh, 1297); Wu Tsung, 1308 (Che Ta, 1308); Jên Tsung, 1312 (Hwang K'ing, 1312; Yen Yew, 1314); Ying Tsung, 1321 (Che Che, 1321); Tai Ting Ti, 1324; (Tai Ting, 1324; Che Ho, 1328); Ming Tsung, 1329 (T'ien Li, 1329); Wen Ti, 1330 (T'ien Li, 1330, Che Shup, 1330); Shun Ti, 1333 (Yuan Tung, 1333; Che Yuan, 1335; Che Chêng, 1341). The misconduct of the emperors led a Chinesepriest, Chu Yuan-chang, to raise the standard of rebellion and expel the Mongols, in 1368. The priest ascended to the throne under the title of Hung Wu, and established his dynasty, the Ming, at Nan-king. Of the Court of Kúblái Khan the Venetian traveller Marco Polo has left us a glorious account. China was then divided into twelve sheng, or provinces: Cheng Tung, Liao Yang, Chung Shu, Shen-si, Ling Pe (Karákorum), Kan Su, Sze-ch'wan, Ho-nan, Kiang-Pe, Kiang-che, Hiang-se, Hu-Kwang, and Yun-Nan.

The younger brother of Kúblái, Hulaku, captured Bagdad, on 5 Feb., 1258; and the Khalif Mostásim Billah, the last of the Abbasid sovereigns, surrendered to the Mongol chief on 10 February. Hulaku was thus the founder of the dynasty of the Ilkhans of Iran, which included the following princes: Hulaku, until 1265; Abaka (1265-81); Nikudar Ahmed (1281-84); Arghún (1284-91); Gaikhatu (1291ï); Baïdu (1295); Ghazan Mahmud (1295-1304); Ghivas eddin Oljaitu Khudabendeh Mohammed (1304-16); Abusaïd Bahadur (1316-35); Moïzz ed-dunia we'd-din Arpa (1335-36); Musa (1336); Mohammed (1336-38); Toogha Timur (1338-39); Izz ed-din Djehan-Timur (1339); Satibeg (1339); Suleimen (1339-44); Adil Anushirwan (1344-53). After the death of Abusaïd all these princes were but nominal sovereigns, overruled by five small dynasties: (1) Ilkhanian-Jelaïrid, at Bagdad (1336-1432); (2) Beni Kurt, in Khorasan and Herat (1248-1383); (3) Modhafferian, in Irak, Fars, and Kerman (1335-92); (4) Serbedarian, in Khorasan (1335-81); (5) Jubanian, in Azerbaidjan (1337-1355). They were all destroyed by Timur or his successors. Among the first Ilkhans, Arghún and Oljaitu had relations with the king of France; two letters are preserved in the French Archive, one from Arghún Khan (1289), brought by Buscarel, and the other from his son Oljaitu (May, 1305) to Philip the Fair. These letters are both in the Mongol language, and, according to Abel Rémusat and other authorities, in the Uighúr character, the parent of the present Mongol writing; facsimiles of them are given in Prince Roland Bonaparte's "Recueil des documents de l'epoque mongole". Under this dynasty, in 1318, Pope John XXII had created an archbishopric at Sulthanyeb, of which Franco of Perugia, William Adam (1 June, 1323), John of Cora (1329), and others were the incumbents, down to Thomas de Abaraner (19 Dec., 1425).

Chagasti died in 1241, and was replaced by his grandson Kara Hulaku. About 1321, under Kabak, the realm of the Chagatai was divided into two parts; Mávará-un-Nahr, or Transoxiana, and Moghulistan, or Jatah. About fifteen khans ruled Transoxiana, while confusion and discord were prevalent, until the great Timur conquered the land and restored order in 1370 (A. H. 771). The first ruler of Moghulistan (1321) was Isán Bugha Khán; after the death of Sultan Ahmed Khan (1504) a state of anarchy prevailed in the country until Sultan Mansur, the eldest son of Ahmed, established his authority at Aksu, Turfan, etc., and created the Khanate of Uighuristán, while the Kirghiz in the steppes, having elected khans, formed the Confederation of Kazák-Uzbegs, and Sultan Said Khan, third son of Ahmed, established a Khanate in Kashgar and the western provinces (see TURKESTAN).

Catholic missions

In 1838, the Vicariate Apostolic of Liao-tung was detached from the Diocese of Peking. It included both Manchuria and Mongolia. Emmanuel-Jean-François-Verrolles, of the Paris Missions Etrangeres, was the first vicar Apostolic. Five years later (28 August, 1840), the new vicariate was divided into three vicariates Apostolic: (1) Liao-tung and Manchuria; (2) Mongolia; (3) Kan su. Mongolia had been a dependence of the Diocese of Peking from 1690 to 1838, and after 1783 had been administered by the Lazarists; the Paris Missions Etrangeres kept it only two years, and when it was made a separate vicariate Apostolic (28 August, 1840) at the head of it was placed Joseph Martial Mouly, titularBishop of Fussola, who, on his transfer to Peking (1857), was replaced by Florent Daguin, titularBishop of Troas, who died 9 May, 1859. François Tagliabue was then appointed pro-vicar and superior of the mission. On 7 Sept., 1864, the Lazarists surrendered Mongolia to the Belgian missionaries and Theophilus Verbiest (b. at Antwerp in 1823) was the first superior and pro-Vicar Apostolic; he died 23 Feb., 1868, and was succeeded as pro-vicar by Edward Smorembourg. Jacques Bax (b. 1824) was appointed vicar Apostolic 22 October, 1874, was consecratedtitularbishop of Adran, 6 Jan., 1875, and died 4 Jan., 1895, at Si-wan-tze. On 21 Dec., 1883, Leo XIII divided Mongolia into three vicariates Apostolic, Eastern, Central, and Western and Southern Mongolia, all in the hands of the Belgian missionaries (Congr. Imm. Cordis B. M. V. de Scheutveld). (1) The first vicar Apostolic of Eastern Mongolia was Conrad Abels, b. at Weest, Limburg, Holland, 31 Jan., 1856, consecratedtitularBishop of Laganis, 31 Oct., 1897; residence at Sung shu tsuei tze (Notre Dame des Pins). He was by succeeded by Theodore Herman Rutjes, titularBishop of Eleuteropolis, who died 4 August, 1896. There are in Eastern Mongolia 30 European and 12 native priests; 19,864 Christians; 18 churches. (2) Central Mongolia, after the partition in 1883, remained under Mgr. Bax, who was succeeded as vicar Apostolic by Jerome Van Aertselaer (b. 1 Nov., 1845), consecratedtitularbishop of Zarai, 24 July, 1898, with residence at Siwan tze. There are 46 European and 23 native priests; 25,775 Christians; 37 churches. (3) Western-Southern Mongolia.--To the vicariate created in 1883 were added by decree of 12 Oct., 1886, the Prefecture of Ning hia from the Kan-su vicariate and the Sub-prefecture K'u-luan. The residence is at Eul she sze k'ing ti. Vicar Apostolic Alphonsus Bermyn (b. 2 Aug., 1853) was consecrated 15 April, 1901, titularbishop of Stratonicea. He replaced Alphonse de Vos, titularbishop of Abdera, d. 21 July, 1888, and Ferdinand Hamer, who was transferred from Kan-su, 30 Aug., 1888, and martyred August, 1900. There are 45 European and 1 native priests; 13,896 Christians; 30 churches. This vicariate is the Ordos country.

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